Aston Villa’s stay in the Premier League has come to an end. For 24 years we have been in the company of a select few that have partaken since its inception in 1992.

There have plenty of highs in that period, particularly our title charge in the inaugural campaign.

Good old days under Big Ron and Brian Little that brought two League Cups.

The John Gregory era which is my personal favourite having grown up enthralled by a team that should have achieved so much more.

Then of course when we flirted with a real possibility of qualifying for the UEFA Champions league under Martin O’Neill.

Gregg Evans with the Villa latest

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The repercussions of that particular era are felt to this day with our penny-pinching owner cutting costs and as a result, we have lost our top flight status. As good as some of the highs were, we are now left to deal with the woes.

This is the lowest ebb for a Villa supporter, particularly the newer generation like myself who have never experienced relegation.

This team has flopped and there are a number of culprits who are to blame. But, Villa are not shy to a dodgy signing. We have had our fair share its safe to say.

There has been that many I could have ended up writing a book. Nevertheless, here is a selection of Villa’s biggest Premier league flops as we draw our top-flight status to an end.

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Charles N’Zogbia

Ashley Young made his way to Manchester United in the summer of 2011 and we needed to fill his void. Charlie N’Zogbia looked to tick all the boxes following a stellar campaign with Wigan Athletic having practically kept them up singlehandedly.

Quick, agile, athletic and an eye for a goal! What arrived was a massive anti-climax having cost little over £10m.

He was not helped by the dour football of Alex McLeish. He could hardly utilise his expertise in a team playing route one football.

Aston Villa's Charles N'Zogbia is challenged by Nicolas Otamendi of Manchester City

He did suffer an Achilles injury during Paul Lambert’s tenure that kept him out for a season.

But, with a £50-60k wage heading into his bank account each week, the Frenchman has simply not justified it.

He has offered nothing in all honesty to this team, even during Tim Sherwood’s short-lived spell last season where he was in the starting-XI more often that not but was just a passenger if anything else.

Bosko Balaban

No surprise here! Very much considered to be the biggest flop in our history by many supporters, considering he cost former chairman Doug Ellis £6m.

To this very day, I still cannot understand how calamitous this was.

Balaban’s Croatian compatriot Davor Suker - a man who lit up the 1998 FIFA World Cup and played for Real Madrid - said upon the player’s arrival at Villa Park in 2001:

"He scored a lot of goals for Dinamo and I can see him scoring many goals for Villa.

"He’ll be a star in the Premiership."

Zero goals, nine appearances, seven as a substitute and released on a free two years later.

Giles De Bilde

Arguably, the most pointless signing Villa ever made during the Premier League era.

This was a two-month loan deal from Sheffield Wednesday in the fall of 2000 as we had lost Luc Nillis to that horror injury at Portman Road as Darius Vassell and Julian Joachim struggled with injury.

The Belgian made just four appearances without a goal to his name.

Juan Pablo Angel when he signed for Villa

He returned to Wednesday as we signed a certain lad from Colombia a few weeks later who would go onto become a Holte End hero.

There’s only one Pablo!

Sasa Curcic

This one sticks in my memory. My love affair with the Villa started just after Euro 96 and my Dad took me to my first ever game against Blackburn Rovers where Gareth Southgate - having missed that penalty against Germany - came back and scored the winner.

I was hooked ever since!

That summer we had signed a Yugoslav from Bolton Wanderers called Sasa Curcic for £4m. I remember there was quite a bit of optimism over his arrival.

Sasa Curcic, 1996-97

Arriving for a hefty fee at the time, his move was an absolute disaster.

The player and the then manager Brian Little had a rift that was beyond repair.

Even when Little resigned in 1998, Curcic was surplus to requirements and as a result Villa made a £3m loss on him as he signed for Crystal Palace.

Habib Beye

Martin O’Neill was guilty for bringing in players that made no sense but this one tops the lot in my opinion. Beye arrived for £2.5m from our friends on Tyneside

Newcastle united in the summer of 2009. At 31 years of age, the right-back was at the wrong side of 30.

Habib Beye signs for Aston Villa on August 7 2009

But, the likes of Luke Yong and Carlos Cuellar restricted the former Marseille captain to a handful of appearances.

The most baffling thing is that the player was on an eye watering £42,000.

In the end he was released from his contract and ended up at Doncaster Rovers.

Joleon Lescott

When Joleon arrived last summer I thought we did a cracking bit of business.

Experience at the back, another local lad having signed Micah Richards as well, and an absolute snip at just £1m.

Aston Villa's Joleon Lescott after relegation was confirmed at Manchester United

In actual fact, that figure may as well be in double figures as Lescott has been as culpable as anyone in this current Villa team for our plight.

Below average performances, a shocking attitude, spat with the fans.

The fact that he is getting booed off the park at our home ground pretty much sums it up.

Eric Djemba-Djemba

He was that good they named him twice.

And the young pretender to Roy Keane in the Manchester United midfield.

Eric Djemba Djemba is welcomed to Aston Villa by manager David O'Leary

So, he ended up at B6 for just £1.5m in January 2005 in what was the most blatant panic buy in our recent history.

Lesson here, don’t always rely on the hype when making a signing.

Peter Enckelman

What more can I say? The Finnish stopper was pretty much ‘finished’ at Villa Park after that infamous gaffe against our rivals Birmingham City in 2002.

I still have those terrible memories of trudging into school the next day and enduring so much stick from the Bluenoses.